Some films expand your horizons, some shift your paradigm, some make your spirit soar with the possibilities inherent in the human condition and some are so awful that they make you question the existence of God. That last would apply to the 109 minutes of my life wasted at Steven Soderbergh’s latest, FULL FRONTAL.The question… Read More »
UP IN THE AIR
Click here to listen to the interview with director Jason Reitman (16:55)In UP IN THE AIR, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has it all figured out. A business traveler with only 42 days at what he euphemistically calls home in Omaha, his is an uncomplicated life without the messiness that genuine human interaction entails. He glides… Read More »
UP IN THE AIR
Click here to listen to the interview with director Jason Reitman (16:55)In UP IN THE AIR, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) has it all figured out. A business traveler with only 42 days at what he euphemistically calls home in Omaha, his is an uncomplicated life without the messiness that genuine human interaction entails. He glides… Read More »
ANALYZE THAT
Robert De Niro appeared in THE GODFATHER II, so he might be forgiven for thinking that all sequels are at least the equal, if not the better, of the original. Billy Crystals sequel to CITY SLICKERS, CURLEYS GOLD, didnt embarrass anyone, and so, he, too, might conclude that sequels are never an insult to the… Read More »
RUNNER RUNNER
Few things in life are quite as irksome as a film that thinks its clever when its anything but. Such is the case of the would-be thriller, RUNNER, RUNNER. In its inept attempts to mix current events with action tropes, it becomes a lackadaisical mishmash of scenes stitched together with a hope, a prayer, and… Read More »
LAST SHOT, THE
THE LAST SHOT, a movie about making movies, cries out for the acerbic tone of THE PLAYER, or the finely observed lunacy of DAY FOR NIGHT, or even the distilled vitriol of ALL ABOUT EVE (yes, I know that film is about the stage, not the screen, but there are so few GOOD films about… Read More »
ELLING
ELLING, this years Oscar nominee from Norway as best foreign film, is that perfect little gem of a film that draws you into a new way of seeing the world. Its eponymous protagonist is a prickly, obsessive middle-aged man suffering a slew of neuroses starting with anxiety and acrophobia and so on down the rest of… Read More »
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
Aaron Eckhart should have been a much bigger movie star than he is by now. He’s got the dazzling good looks and the killer charisma required, but after several first-rate performances in little films (THE COMPANY OF MEN, YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS), fine journeyman’s work playing second-fiddle to powerhouse female leads (Julia Roberts’ boyfriend in… Read More »
SEMI-PRO
SEMI-PRO is a title that is more than apt for the film to which it is attached. It is a work made up of random bits and pieces in which Will Ferrell has been wedged into an insipid sports story. There is no discernible attempt to make the two disparate elements, Ferrell’s absurdity and the… Read More »